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Oakland's Government Compared To Keystone Cops In Cal Report

In yet another example of piling on, we have the California Report comparing Oakland's governance to a Keystone Cops movie. I'm not sure I'd go that far at all. But 30-year Sacramento veteran and former speaker Willie Brown staffer Bill Cavala -- who has a haircut right from a Keystone Cops movie -- thinks so. In the California Report, Cavala writes:

“Cronyism” is one the charges made about virtually all elected officials. Unlike most work, political activity engenders opponents, those that would like you or your allies out of political office and replaced by themselves or their allies. To protect yourself from those opponents, politicians seek what others find in privacy in the company of people they trust. “Loyalty”, a political virtue, really means trustworthy under pressure.

So when picking subordinates or employees, those of us in the political world add “loyalty” to the list of attributes we look for – along with skills, intelligence, judgment that everyone looks for in employees.

Because “loyalty” is reciprocal, the subordinate has more job security than do employees in more normal work. And, because of this fact, “loyal” employees in politics can get away with egregious behavior at times.

Such appears to be the case in Oakland.


What's interesting is that Cavala forms his entire view from what SF Chronicle Columnist Chip Johnson wrote in his column. This means that for all practical purposes, Deborah Edgerly has been to Chip, what SF Chronicle writers Mark Farnu-Wada and Lance Willams have been to former SF Giants slugger Barry Bonds: a reporting tormentor who has formed a public opinion about them.

Interesting. That's all I'll write for this post.

Comments

Ernie said…
Some of us were questioning Edgerly's behavior LONG before Chip started his columns.

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